The EMG-89 Dual Mode Pickup has been through two generations. Our original Dual-mode (EMG-DM) design was incredibly sophisticated for its time (1979). The DM was an 18-Volt model with a single output available only in an Alnico magnet version. The EMG-DM was abandoned in late 1985, but the concept was revived early in 1989 when we came upon a more innovative design featuring "two pickups in one", the current EMG-89. Inside the EMG-89 pickup are both single and dual-coil pickups, each with it's own output. The single-coil mode is an Alnico loaded stacked EMG-SA. The dual-coil mode consists of two Alnico loaded coils opposite one another creating a pickup similar to the EMG-85. A push/pull volume (or tone) pot allows you to change from the clarity of a single-coil to the fatness of a humbucking.